Article sorting machine



June 2, 1970 G. A. LEE

ARTICLE SORTING MACHINE Filed April 16, 1968 United States Patent Olfice US. Cl. 19833 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An article sorting machine comprising a first conveyor and a second conveyor disposed side by side and arranged to run in counter-relation, a first roller rotatable about a horizontal axis and disposed at an input station above the first conveyor so that a gap is presented between a vertical plane containing that edge of the first conveyor adjacent to the second conveyor and a parallel vertical plane which intersects one side of the first roller when viewed in plan, a second roller disposed forwardly of the first roller and rotatable about a horizontal axis, said second roller being arranged so that it forms a baffle which prevents any article resting wholly or partially on top of another article from passing along the first conveyor towards a packing or delivery station and which displaces such article on to the second conveyor for return towards and beyond the input station, the second conveyor having beyond the input station deflector means arranged to deflect any articles thus returned on to the first conveyor again.

One object of this invention is to provide in an improved form a machine which is adapted to take articles which are delivered to it in a random fashion and sort them into an orderly, linear relationship whence they can be delivered to a packing or delivery station for counting and subsequent packing into a container.

An article sorting machine in accordance with the invention comprises a pair of conveyors arranged in a side by-side relation, namely a first conveyor adapted to travel forwardly towards a packing or delivery station and a second conveyor adapted to travel rearwardly, a first roller which is rotatable about a horizontal or substantially horizontal axis and which is disposed at an input station at which in operation articles will be fed into the machine, said first roller being arranged above the first conveyor so that a gap is formed between two vertical planes, namely a plane which contains that edge of the first conveyor nearer to the second conveyor and a parallel plane which touches one side of the first roller when viewed in plan, the width of said gap being not less than the maximum width of the articles it is desired to sort, a second roller which is disposed forwardly of the first roller, said second roller being rotatable about a horizontal or substantially horizontal axis and being so arranged in relation to the first conveyor to present a bafile which will prevent an article which rests partially or wholly on top of another article from passing along the first conveyor to the packing or delivery station and which will displace said article on to the second conveyor, the second conveyor extending rearwardly of said input station and having deflector means whereby any articles travelling to the rearward end of the second conveyor will be deflected on to the first conveyor rearwardly of the input station.

Conveniently, the second roller has a larger diameter than the first roller and the two rollers are arranged to be rotatable about a common axis which is inclined to the direction of travel of the first conveyor. Furthermore, the first roller may be tapered in a direction towards the second roller.

Patented June 2, 1970 The invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein FIGS. 1 and 2 are respectively a plan view and a front elevation of one example of an article sorting machine in accordance with the invention.

Referring to the drawings, the machine shown therein is provided with a pair of conveyors which are each of the endless belt kind and which are arranged in a side-by-side relation. One of said conveyors ltl (hereafter referred to as the first conveyor) runs along the bottom of a channel and is disposed below the other or second conveyor 11. Moreover, said conveyors are arranged to run in counter relation so that the first conveyor in use will travel forwardly towards a delivery or packing station (generally indicated by reference numeral 12), whereas the second conveyor 11 is arranged to run rearwardly .away from said packing or delivery station.

The machine is also provided with a pair of rollers, namely a first roller 13 and a second roller 14 which has a larger diameter than the first roller, said rollers being connected together by a frusto-conical section 15 and being arranged to be rotated about a common axis which extends in a horizontal or substantially horizontal direction which is inclined to the length of the aforesaid conveyors 10 and 11. One or both of said rollers are preferably of fluted or ribbed form. Conveniently, both conveyors 10 and 11 and the rollers 13 and 14 are all driven from an electric motor 16, the drive to the rollers being taken from a cross shaft 17 which is itself driven by bevel gears 18 and 19.

The first roller 13 is disposed adjacent to an input station (generally indicated by reference numeral 20) into which are fed articles to be sorted by the machine, and said first roller is arranged over the first conveyor 10 so that a gap (indicated by reference numeral 21) into which articles can fall will be formed between a vertical plane containing that edge 22 of the first conveyor nearer to the second conveyor and a parallel vertical plane which touches the side of the first roller 13 when viewed in plan. As shown, the first roller 13 is tapered in a direction towards the second roller 14 so that the second vertical plane referred to above will be tangential to the first roller. The width of said gap 21 is not less than the maximum width of the articles to be sorted and the first roller 13 is arranged so that the aforesaid side of the roller which bounds one side of the gap will be travelling in an upward direction. Articles 23 falling into said gap will thus fall onto the first conveyor, any jams at this position being prevented by the upward motion of said side of the first roller 13. Th articles will thus travel along the first conveyor 10 towards the second roller 14 and the latter is arranged so that it presents a baffle above the first conveyor to provide a passage over the first conveyor which decreases in Width along the length of the roller, the direction of rotation of the roller being such as to cause any articles which lie partially or wholly on top of other articles to be swept upwardly and laterally onto the second conveyor 11.

Some of the articles fed from the input station will thus travel straight along the first conveyor in an orderly, spaced relationship whereas others will be deflected by the second roller back onto the second conveyor 11 whence they will be conveyed rearwardly of the input station 20. On the rearward side of said input station there is provided deflector means in the form of a deflector plate 24 which is disposed above the second conveyor 11 and which is arranged to deflect articles from the second conveyor onto the first conveyor 10 whence they will again travel forwardly towards the delivery or packing station. A further or third roller 25 is provided adjacent to the first conveyor at the position where articles are deflected from the second conveyor, said roller 25 being rotatable about a horizontal axis (and also being conveniently driven from the shaft 17) and being arranged so that the side of said roller adjacent to the first conveyor 10 will move in an upward direction.

A machine as above described with thus be able to sort articles which are delivered to it in a random fashion so that the articles are presented at a delivery or packing station in an orderly, spaced arrangementv Means (not shown) may be provided at such station if desired for counting the articles which can be diverted into a succession of containers such as tins which can be delivered to the packing station on a third conveyor 26. The machine is suitable for use in packing sausages, diced potatoes, carrots and other foods which have been cooked prior to delivery to the aforesaid input station although it is to be understood that the machine can also be applied to the sorting of articles other than items of food.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An article sorting machine comprising a pair of conveyors arranged in a side by side relation, namely a first conveyor adapted to travel forwardly towards a packing or delivery station and a second conveyor adapted to travel rearwardly, a first roller which is rotatable about a horizontal or substantially horizontal axis and which is disposed at an input station at which in operation, articles will be fed into the machine, said first roller being arranged above the first conveyor so that a gap is formed between two vertical planes, namely a plane which contains that edge of the first conveyor nearer to the second conveyor and a parallel plane which touches one side of the first roller when viewed in plan, the width of said gap being not less than the maximum width of the articles it is desired to sort, a second roller which is disposed forwardly of the first roller, said second roller being rotatable about a horizontal or substantially horizontal axis and being so arranged in relation to the first conveyor to present a battle which will prevent an article which rests partially or wholly on top of another article from passing along the first conveyor to the packing or delivery station and which will displace said article onto the second conveyor, the second conveyor extending rearwardly of said input station and having deflector means whereby any articles travelling to the rearward end of the second conveyor will be deflected onto the first conveyor rearwardly of the input station.

2. An article sorting machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the second roller has a larger diameter than the first roller, the two rollers being rotatable about a common axis which is inclined to the direction of travel of the first conveyor.

3. An article sorting machine as claimed in claim 2 wherein the first roller is tapered in a direction towards the second roller.

4. An article sorting machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein there is provided a third roller which is disposed over the first conveyor at a position adjacent to the deflector means of the second conveyor.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,578,314 12/1951 Muench EDWARD A. SROKA, Primary Examiner 

